The use of pagers in today's society is wide spread and is increasing rapidly. Pagers are designed to operate at a frequency that is dependent upon the geographical location where the pager is to be used. For example, a pager that is to be used in the Los Angeles area would have a different frequency than a pager that is used in the Washington, D.C. area.
If a person that has been living in the Los Angeles area is transferred to the Washington D.C. area, it is necessary that the pager frequency be tuned to the specific frequency assigned to the Washington D.C. area. Presently to accomplish this frequency "retuning", it is necessary that the pager be taken to a pager retainer that in turn, sends the pager to a pager tuning facility. The pager tuning facilities include test equipment and other instrumentation that must be used with a certified non-electromagnetic interference (EMI) screen room where the pager tuning takes place.
The instant invention allows the pager "retuning" to be accomplished at a location without the need for a screen room or additional test equipment and instrumentation. Thus, a pager retainer having one of the inventive pager tuning systems can retune a pager at a retail facility. Thus, saving time and cost to the pager user; and providing a greater profit margin for the retailer.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention however, the following U.S. patents were considered related:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 5,196,842 Gomez 23 March 1993 5,115,217 McGrath 19 May 1992 ______________________________________
The Gomez U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,842 discloses a pager capable of operating in a plurality of paging systems. The pager includes a receiver for receiving information messages which include idle words from one of the paging systems. Upon receiving the messages, the pager decodes the message to determine the system identification information contained in the idle word. The pager then compares the decoded system identification information with the unique paging system identification number presently being utilized by the pager. If the system identification information matches the unique paging system identification number, the pager remains in the present paging system. If the data does not match, the pager determines if any of the stored sets of system configuration parameters matches the decoded system identification information. If a match is found, a controller automatically changes the system configuration parameters to match those associated with the new paging system identification number.
The McGrath U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,217 discloses a tuning element for planar R.F. circuits. The tuning element includes a substrate, a transmission line on the substrate that includes a pair of conductors coupled to a circuit to be tuned, and a movable short-circuit element for varying the impedance the transmission line presents to the circuit to be tuned. The movable short-circuit element includes a dielectric layer disposed atop the transmission line and a distributed shorting element in the form of a conductive member that is configured to be slid along at least a portion of the transmission line. The conductive member is configured to span the conductors of the transmission line and to define an opening that spans and separates the two conductors. The conductive member combines with the transmission line to form low impedance sections of transmission line, and the opening combines with the transmission line and the dielectric layer to form a first high impedance section of transmission line. The low impedance section and the high impedance section have a wavelength that provides a periodic variation of transmission line impedance that enhances reflection of the R.F. power.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention relates, reference may be made to the following remaining patents found in the search.
______________________________________ PATENT NO. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 4,320,561 Cook, et al 14 June 1994 5,262,769 Holmes 16 November 1993 5,255,273 Nilsson et al 19 October 1993 4,723,302 Fulmer et al 2 February 1988 ______________________________________